


may you be blessed

by hanbunnotsuki



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gen, keith's birthday
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-22
Updated: 2017-10-22
Packaged: 2019-01-21 09:20:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12454317
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hanbunnotsuki/pseuds/hanbunnotsuki
Summary: Keith finds that a birthday party might not be as bad as he would think. Not when you have your friends with you.





	may you be blessed

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is a little rushed, but Happy Birthday, Keith!!!

The team is going to give him a surprise birthday party. Keith knows it.  
  
They’re not being exactly subtle, what with Hunk ‘subtly’ asking Keith which flavor of cake he prefers, and Pidge ‘subtly’ asking Keith if there’s anything that he wants recently. And then there’s Lance, Coran, and Allura who have been sneaking around him, probably ‘secretly’ crafting some decorations. Lastly, there’s Shiro, the worst secret-keeper of them all who bites his lips and laughs nervously before running away whenever Keith tries to talk to him, probably worried about giving them away.   
  
Honestly, do they really think Keith wouldn’t catch on? They do surprise parties for _every birthday_ . Keith had been on the committee side of the parties _every single time_ . They may be the Paladins of Voltron, but they would really make poor cover agents.   
  
With that in mind, Keith waits and corners Shiro when the opportunity comes.   
  
“Shiro, we need to talk.”   
  
“Talk about what? I know nothing. There’s nothing going on.” Shiro winces at his own words, and Keith almost sniggered at the slip-up but he needed to keep a straight face. He can make fun of Shiro after the party is averted.   
  
“You know as well as I do that you guys are arranging a birthday party.” Shiro sighs, probably a mix of disappointment and relief. On one hand, the party is not a surprise anymore, but on another, Shiro doesn’t need to keep it a secret. “Tell them to cancel it.”   
  
“What? But why?” Shiro bursts out in surprise.   
  
The edges of Keith’s lips dip even lower. “I hate having birthday parties.”   
  
“You do? But we’ve always celebrated your birthday!” Shiro crosses his arms, mirroring Keith, and he knows from Shiro’s voice that he won’t back down easily.   
  
“That’s different. It was just the two of us, it didn’t count as a party,” he says stubbornly. Keith only needs to convince Shiro, and the party is as good as gone. Everybody listens to Shiro. “Please, Shiro.”   
  
“Could you at least tell me the reason why you are so against it? Everybody has been looking forward to it, you know. I can’t tell them to cancel all of a sudden with no good reason.” Shiro peers into Keith’s eyes, looking concerned.   
  
Old memories that Keith rarely looks back on starts to rush into his head.   
  
The birthday parties his dad held for him when he was young, inviting the neighboring kids to come and celebrate Keith’s birthday. How Keith had always gotten into fights in the middle of the party because there was always that one kid who had to make fun of Keith, mockingly asking how bad could a child be that his mother wouldn’t come to his birthday party? Keith’s anger rose so quickly that his fist flew before he could even think, ending the parties in cries and tears.   
  
He remembers climbing into his dad’s bed one night, asking the same question the kid he’d beat up had asked him.   
  
“You’re not a bad kid at all, Keith,” his dad murmured gently as he caressed Keith’s head, pulling him closer. Keith sniffled and clung onto his father’s chest, trying hard not to let the tears flow. “Your mother is just too busy doing her job, that’s all.”   
  
That night, Keith decided that he doesn’t need those stupid parties anymore, and his dad being there is more than enough for him. When he asked if they could celebrate just the two of them the next year, his dad agreed without questioning it.   
  
Keith shakes his head to snap himself out of his thoughts and answers Shiro’s question. “I... don’t have good memories of birthday parties.”   
  
“All right. But isn’t that the more reason for us to hold one for you?” Shiro says carefully. Keith growls in frustration, because seriously, does Shiro have to be so difficult? “No, hear me out, Keith. You had a bad experience with birthday parties, I got that. But we can have one where you’ll have a good time with all of us and it would write over the bad experience.”   
  
Keith scoffs disbelievingly, but then Shiro gives him that _look_ . The look that says that he believes in Keith to do the right thing. He hates that look sometimes.   
  
“Come on, perhaps you’ll surprise yourself by how much fun you’re going to have at the party.” Shiro moves and stands next to Keith, bumping Keith’s shoulder with his own. Keith rolls his eyes exasperatedly, but they both know he’s going to say yes.   
  
“Don’t blame me if someone ends up crying at the party.” Keith deadpans, but a smile tugs at his lips when Shiro barks out a laugh.  
  


* * *

 

 _“Surprise~!! Happy birthday, Keith!”_   
  
“Oh...wow…!” Keith holds both of his hand up, trying to school his expression to that of surprise. “I totally did not see this coming! What a surprise!”   
  
“Alright, fess up, who let the secret out?” Lance calls out accusingly, looking around with narrowed eyes.   
  
“Who else could it be? Must be Shiro.” Hunk shrugs, pointing his finger at their leader.   
  
“Me!? I didn’t say anything! Keith found out by himself!” Shiro cries back to defend himself.   
  
“Oh, shut up you guys. Keith come over here and blow the candles!” Pidge waves Keith over to where the cake is. “Everybody sing!”   
  
The earthlings sing a round of Happy Birthday, while the others clap and try to sing along. Keith goes through the whole ritual—blowing the candle, cutting the cake, and passing the slices of cake around. He thought it would be just them, but they invited the Blade of Marmora too, and a few other members of the coalition. The Arusians, the rebels, and even Slav.   
  
“Happy born day, Keith.” Kolivan nods at Keith, and the rest of the Blades follows his lead. Each of them holds a plate of Hunk’s homemade cake in their hands, making quite an amusing sight.

“Thanks for coming.” Keith nods back.   
  
He goes around to greet and thank the others guests in a similar manner when a hand suddenly grabs his wrist. Keith almost throws the person over his shoulder in reflex but he relaxes his stance when he notices that it’s just Lance.  
  
“Keith! Come over here, we’re about to start breaking the pinata!” Lance grins and drags him over to the other side of the room where a huge pinata with the shape of a hippopotamus is hanging from the wall.   
  
“You do realize that I’m turning nineteen, not nine.”  
  
“Don’t be such a party-pooper,” Lance sticks out his tongue, and Keith almost succumbed to the childish impulse to do the same in retaliation. “Think of it as a cultural exchange! It’s a lot of people’s first time doing this and they’re so excited. Here.” Lance hands him a stick. He sees that some of the others are holding one too. “You do the honor, birthday boy.”  
  
Keith looks at the stick in his hand. It’s his first time with a pinata too, but he more or less knows what he needs to do.  
  
Keith goes for the first strike and the others soon follow, taking turns to hit the pinata. The paper eventually breaks and delightful cheers rise as candies rain down on them. Keith feels a smile stretching across his face as he watches the Arusians cheerfully scoops as much candy as they can from the floor and walks away with their prize.  
  
“Hey, Keith!” Keith turns toward the voice to find Pidge. “You did say you didn’t want anything in particular, but I thought I’d give you this.” Pidge opens the box that she’s holding to reveal some kind of wristwatch. “It’s a communicator I built. I’ve set its frequency to the Castleship’s so you’ll be able to page us anytime, anywhere, even when you’re away on a mission. You can also send us a message with this to keep in touch.”  
  
Keith accepts the communicator and wears it immediately over his wrist. When he taps on the screen, it glows and the words _‘Hello Keith’_ appear. “Thanks a lot, Pidge. This is great.”  
  
“No problem! Glad you like it.”  
  
“If I can have everybody’s attention.” They both look up at Allura’s voice traveling across the room. “We are all gathered here today to celebrate the day our dear friend Keith was born into this world. Let us raise our glass to his health and prosperity!”  
  
“Hoo-rah! To Keith!” The Arusians shouts and everyone cheers and claps, and Keith feels more than a little embarrassed, but also quite...happy.   
  
“See? It’s not so bad after all, isn’t it?” A smug Shiro appears from behind him, clasping Keith’s shoulder. Keith rolls his eyes at the ‘I-told-you-so’ grin Shiro is aiming at him.  
  
Keith looks around the room. Everyone is laughing and smiling and are genuinely having fun. Everyone who considers him as a friend is there to celebrate the day he was born together with him.  
  
“Yeah, I guess a birthday party’s not so bad,” Keith replies, a content smile adorning his face as he watches the party go on. 


End file.
